New environment, new experiences, new people. This is what my whole DTM journey has been until now that I am doing my internship. When I applied for this program, one of the things that I was looking forward to was the internship program. I was really hoping that I could get in it and stay for two more months to explore Korea and learn about their sports system. My interest in the internship program grew more when my entry in Korea was delayed due to the circumstances of the pandemic. So, when the application for the internship program was announced, I contemplated a lot on which organization to apply for. I would like to apply for an organization from which I can learn a lot and that I can also be of contribution to. I wanted my two months of internship to be meaningful and a great learning experience.
Fast forward to February 2023, a month has passed since I started my internship in World Taekwondo. Having a routine provided structure to my days which is very different from not having any classes. It was a challenge for me to work in an office setting since it is very different from my previous job as a coach and as a college lecturer. Despite that, the past five weeks so far had provided me with valuable experience. I got to see how World Taekwondo, one of the international federations that scored high in the ASOIF good governance assessment, operate, and manage their organization. I learned about their sports development programs, their membership processes, and how they provide proper services to their member national associations. World Taekwondo is not complacent as they always do benchmarking which I get to do for them. They gave me tasks from which I learned not only about the organization itself but also about other international federations. I am glad to experience firsthand how World Taekwondo apply the things I have learned from the DTM modules.
I also get to learn and experience the Korean work culture. The people in World Taekwondo are welcoming. I got to meet everyone on the first day, remembering the names is a challenge, though. I also met Mr. Jeongkang Seo, Secretary-General of World Taekwondo who treated us for lunch on my first day of internship. Gifts! I received welcome gifts as well. A memorable event with my officemates is the start of the year company dinner. Everyone was present, including Mr. Chungwon Choue, the president of World Taekwondo. It was nice to have time with them outside the office setting. We ate, drank, told stories, laughed, there were even someone who danced bachata!
One of the highlights that I have experienced with World Taekwondo was the workshop on sustainability in sports. The workshop gave me insights on why sustainability in sports is important and what does sports, especially sports organizations such as the WT can do to promote it. The workshop emphasized the impact of sports to the society, economy, and the environment. Sports have both good and bad impacts thus sustainability in sports aims to increase its positive impacts and decrease the negative ones. The workshop reiterated that sports organizations have the capacity to influence its members to make ethical and responsible decisions not only in handling sports events but on the daily basis.
I am grateful to be one of the interns of DTM and to be accepted in the World Taekwondo. My goal for this internship is to maximize the two month and so far, I am learning a lot of new things!
Written by Catherine Joy (Philippine, 9th batch)
